CEO tested job applicants by watching their reaction to a waitress flubbing their order

I’ve always said I can tell about all I need to know about a person by how they treat servers at restaurants.  (As a former Huddle House waitress, I’ve seen it all.)

Walt Bettinger, the CEO of Charles Schwab Corporation, has a similar litmus test.  In an interview with the New York Times, Bettinger revealed that he is looking for something much deeper than a flashy resume from his potential employees.  His innovative tactic to get past the first impression of his interviewees and reveal their true character is quite clever!

Bettinger explained that he shows up early to lunch meetings and tips the restaurant to mess up the order of the person he is interviewing.  He believes their reaction to this small inconvenience speaks volumes to their character and their ability to deal with adversity in the workplace.

“Are they upset, are they frustrated, or are they understanding? Life is like that, and business is like that,” he said.

“It’s just another way to look inside their heart rather than their head,” he explained.

What are the other ways? Before offering candidates a position at the brokerage and banking company, Bettinger asks them to tell him about their greatest successes in life.

“What I’m looking for is whether their view of the world really revolves around others, or whether it revolves around them,” he said. “And I’ll ask then about their greatest failures in their life and see whether they own them or whether they were somebody else’s fault.”

In our fast-paced dog-eat-dog world it is easy to get wrapped up in titles and salaries, but this CEO understands what really matters and what really defines an excellent employee.  

Later in the interview, Bettinger went on to tell a great story of how he learned what really matters during one of his last business school exams.  He remembers:

After spending hours studying and memorizing formulas for calculations, young Bettinger showed up to find that the exam was nothing but a blank sheet of paper.

“The professor said, ‘I’ve taught you everything I can teach you about business in the last 10 weeks,” he recalled. “But the most important message, the most important question, is this: What’s the name of the lady who cleans this building?”

Bettinger had no idea. He failed the exam and got a B in the class.

“That had a powerful impact,” he said. “Her name was Dottie, and I didn’t know Dottie. I’d seen her, but I’d never taken the time to ask her name.”

Wow.